There is a misconception that Charles Dickens got paid by the word. Therefore, his novels seemed to have an inordinate length. That idea turns out to be untrue. He wrote many serialized novels for weekly or periodic publication and was paid for them by the chapter. But many treatises, by many authors, appear to have the “paid by the word” length through extension of the basic, fundamental thoughts and conversations, and multiplied modifiers, adjectives, and explanations. And maybe run-on sentences. (Get the pun?) Sometimes we treat the Bible as if it were written on a “paid by the word” format. We just skip or skim over parts. For instance, I have read quickly past Daniel 11:1 many times. Check it out.
“In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him.
Daniel was talking to an angel, the “I,” in chapter 10 and after a chapter of introduction, the angel began to speak. Normally I race past this sentence to get to the “good stuff.” This time it arrested me. Think back, or turn a couple of pages to chapter 5:30, 31.
That same night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain. 31 So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of sixty-two.
We are not following the Babylonian (Chaldean) story here. It had just fallen and the king who conquered it is introduced. Darius became the king. So in his very first year, an angel took a personal interest and role in the reign. And now our two stories coalesce. (Chapter 6)
It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom, 2 and over them three commissioners (of whom Daniel was one), that these satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss.
“It seemed good to Darius....” He had no idea that his “good idea” was not his own. This angel had instigated the action and, as we read the rest of the story, this divine intervention becomes a crucial part of the story. As you recall, 119 of the satraps conspired against Daniel and that led to the famous episode in a lions’ den. And now the story becomes very personal to Darius. We can infer that the nefarious 119 had some dastardly plans, especially for Darius’ and the kingdom’s resources. (Sorry, got infected again.) Glance back to verse 2 of chapter 6. They were supposed to protect the king’s interests.
Why would they band together against an honest man? I’m trying to avoid being a conspiracy buff here, but a bunch of innocent, honest men would not mind being overseen by another man with integrity. But they did mind. Hummmm....
And, taking the story along the trail, this honest monitor was “cast into the lions’ den.” Where they intended to murder him by leonine proxy. (Don’t you love that kind of talk?) The king was unaware of his danger and peril, so the angel overtly intervened to preserve the king’s man and thereby interests. And that great story resulted.
I am confident that Darius’ proclamation was reflective of his personal conversion, if, indeed he was not already a believer in Daniel’s God. 6:26
“I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel; For He is the living God and enduring forever, And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed, And His dominion will be forever. 27 “He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders In heaven and on earth, Who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”
Hebrews 13:2 tells us...
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Darius was rescued by angels without knowing it. And, as we move into the Advent season culminating with the birth of our Lord, there is a portion of the story that I have adopted as a personal crusade. “Where did the wise men come from?” They came from “the east” which we know to be the general area of ancient Babylon. But why and how did they know about a “king of the Jews?”
I have an extended explanation which I will post later, but the “nutshell” version is that after the 119 were dispatched into the lions’ stomachs, Darius logically turned to the guy he could trust to assemble a reliable “watch team.” (Darius’ own was a little flawed.) So who would be more appropriately designated as the replacement satraps than Daniel’s friends and countrymen?
If he appointed a team of financial guardians would he not also monitor their activities? He would focus both on the prevention of fraud and training them in the tasks of financial management. While he was at it, he would also share and explain the “strange visions” that he had been given. (An angel is the source of them, as well, including the famous 70 weeks prophecy. We will incorporate that in a few minutes–or words.)
If Daniel had introduced them to prophecy, both personally and through his written memoirs, this little cadre of “wise men” could have traced and even foretold some of the events as they occurred. And as they followed the progression of the prophetic statements turning into recorded history their wonder, amazement, and excitement would have grown.
Can’t you imagine his introduction? “I saw that Babylon would be overthrown. And that the victors would be...ta da! the Medes and the Persians, our present rulers.” And the excitement must have grown exponentially as he continued with the exposition of Jeremiah’s prediction as to how the overthrow would be accomplished.
Remember that Daniel was in Babylon for nearly 70 years at this point. He was in his late eighties or early nineties. He has had a little time to pore over the books of Jeremiah and Isaiah. And look at what he found. Jeremiah 50:9, 10
“For behold, I am going to arouse and bring up against Babylon A horde of great nation from the land of the north, And they will draw up their battle lines against her; From there she will be taken captive. Their arrows will be like an expert warrior Who does not return empty-handed. (Read carefully here:) 10 “Chaldea will become plunder; All who plunder her will have enough,” declares the Lord. V. 13 “Because of the indignation of the Lord she will not be inhabited, But she will be completely desolate; Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified And will hiss because of all her wounds.
It would be a worthy enterprise to read the entire chapter. Daniel continued, ( v. 39)
“Therefore the desert creatures will live there along with the jackals; The ostriches also will live in it, And it will never again be inhabited Or dwelt in from generation to generation.
Even Saddam Hussein was not able to rebuild Babylon. But that is not all. I skipped v. 38.
“A drought on her waters, and they will be dried up! For it is a land of idols, And they are mad over fearsome idols.”
In case you do not know this bit of history, Darius dammed the Euphrates River upstream from the city and his soldiers walked under the walls in the empty riverbed and overcame the guards. Daniel possibly knew about that even as he talked to Belshazzar on the fateful night when it happened. (Daniel 5) Oh! Oh! Oh! Look at Jeremiah 51:56 and 57. (If you haven’t read Daniel 5 yet, do it.)
For the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon, And her mighty men will be captured, Their bows are shattered; For the Lord is a God of recompense, He will fully repay. 57 “I will make her princes and her wise men drunk, Her governors, her prefects and her mighty men, That they may sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up,” Declares the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
Prophecy not only told what was going to happen, but how. Think the 119 are all ears? Daniel would have gone on with his own revealed prophecies and ended with the promise of the Jews returning home. (Cyrus will do that in a short time. 2 Chronicles 36:22 and Ezra 1:1)
Then Daniel turned to his favorite, my guess here, prophecy. That is the time leading up to the return of the Messiah in chapter 9 of his own book. (Our chapter and verse divisions, not his.) There will be seventy, sevens of years until He comes. (490 for the math-challenged.) He may not have understood all of the details, but the overall focus was clear. The Messiah is coming!
The 70 weeks began when Cyrus sent the Jews back to their land. He would not know exactly when that would happen, but he did know that a king named Cyrus would arise. This time he appealed to the prophet Isaiah who was active during the final stages of Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion and victory, over 70 years before. (Isaiah 44:28) He named the king over 100 years before said king was even born. Quite a feat. Are you starting to get as excited as his little cadre of wise men? Boy, I am!
Astute students have been able to reconstruct the events and times from the somewhat sporadic history accounts we have available. As our “wise men” watched the events unfold, “in real-time,” they could precisely and accurately deduce the time that the Messiah would appear and then be “cut off.”
They must have calculated the time of the “cutting off” and worked backward to find an estimated birth date for the Messiah. As the years ticked off the clock, and they recognized that they were about 50 years from the “time,” their search for signs became quite thorough. And, many experts postulate that the “star” was a special revelation to these seekers from the Lord. Maybe it was even the same angel. Who knows? Angels can look like stars, and no “natural” star would behave like the one in Matthew did. (Matthew 2)
And when it occurred, the little remnant band that was over 400 years removed from their originators and Daniel, urgently saddled up their camels and headed west. And, as they say, “Now you know the rest of the story.”
This verse was not a filler. The angel was not getting “paid by the word.” It was filled with instruction and invitation for us to “dig deeper.” The angel in Daniel 11 was involved in providing the message and guiding faithful followers to their date with destiny. Or better yet, their date with the Messiah. We are likewise offered the opportunity to “watch” for the Messiah as we near the end of the “cut off” period.
We can learn and perhaps intuit a lot from reading the words of the Word. Don’t skip over anything. You will miss a blessing.
Followup thought. The set of wise men traditionally is considered to be three individual wise men, along with a contingent of aids, etc. But we do not know, because we are not told how many there were. Here is a wild idea. What if the contemporary “satraps” sent three, not to carry three gifts, but to symbolize the three kings who were converted under Daniel’s “ministry” in Babylon and Persia? I am confident that Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, and Cyrus were all believers. Their testimonies indicate as much.
So how better to honor Daniel and his work than to send three surrogates for the long since departed kings? That would make a perfect culmination and tribute to the time that he spent working for, and with, each of the individual kings. And for them to bring offerings to the new-born Messiah would be perfectly fitting for three men who literally owed their eternal destiny to this One Who sent His agent, Daniel, into their lives.
To follow our topic, we may be “reading a little into the text,” but I am confident that we are doing no violence to the message. Read on.
No comments:
Post a Comment